Habibullah meets Geelani with back door talks offer

The Centre is trying  hard to rope in Hurriyat hawk Syed Ali Shah Geelani for backchannel talks on Kashmir.

For the first time since the process began, the former central information commissioner and old Kashmir hand Wajahat Habibullah met Geelani in New Delhi on Thursday and reportedly offered to arrange “his meeting with union home minister P Chidamabaram”.

“He (Habibullah) told me to join the talks process and also offered help in arranging a meeting with the union home minister. But I declined to meet any of the leaders because I don’t want to be part of the futile exercise,” Geelani said. The 80-year-old Hurriyat leader is in Delhi where he recently underwent eye surgery.

Habibullah, who quit the Central Information Commission to take up the job of first information commissioner of J&K, first denied offering talks, but later said he made a passing reference to it (talks) during his meeting with Geelani. The CIC said he had called on Geelani to enquire about his health.

Though home ministry officials did not confirm or deny the meeting, it’s unlikely for Habibullah to broach talks unless he’s been authorised by the ministry.

Geelani said he’s not against talks but it can be held only if Delhi accepts Kashmir is disputed. “People have made umpteen sacrifices for the right to self-determination. There are 18 UN resolutions, pending implementation. We are not against talks, but talks for the sake of talks won’t help,” he said.

Geelani said he reminded Habibullah about an earlier effort to start talks in 1998. At that time, he had imposed some conditions for dialogue.

“I told him we had two rounds of dialogue in 1998 and I had made some demands, but things didn’t work out because Delhi did not budge,” he said. Geelani wants the government to demilitarise Kashmir, repeal draconian laws, release prisoners and accept that Kashmir is disputed.  The information commmissioner said there is a misunderstanding about the meeting.

“It was purely a courtesy call. However, in passing, I asked him if he was a part of the dialogue. I am not even part of any process.”